Main spring winder



ug- 29 1966 L. AMEL-:RG

MAIN SPRING WINDER Filed Aug. lO, 1964 INVENTOR. Eon/02a AMBER@ ONJ m\wxyv M bwk I@ MMLM.

United States Patent O 3,263,532 MAIN SPRING WINDER Leonard Amberg, P.0.Box 94, Redwood Falls, Minn. 56283 Filed Aug. 10, 1964, Ser. No. 388,5177 Claims. (Cl. til-7.5)

This invention relates to means for Winding Watch springs, and moreparticularly to means for pre-winding the main springs of watches, sothat the wound spring may be inserted within the main spring barrel of aWatch in the process of making or repairing the Watch.

Conventional spring winding tools comprise a straight shaft or rodhaving a laterally projecting hook or pin adapted to be engaged in ahole near the inner end of the spring. With hook engaged in the springopening, the shaft is rotated to wind one revolution of the spring overanother and smaller revolution, until the Whole spring is tightly Woundhelically. After the spring has been cornpletely Wound around the shaftof the tube, it is slipped olf the end of the shaft into the main springbarrel of the watch. Such a tool was shown in Patent No. 1,812,494 toMcFarland.

With such a tool the second spring revolution may be deformed by passingover the end of the hook. This often injures the spring to the extentthat the Watch keeps imperfect time, and if the hook is excessivelylong, it may even break the spring.

On the other hand, if the hook is so constructed that it projects fromthe shaft only a distance approximately equal to the thickness of themain spring, it is diicult to keep the spring engaged with the hookwhile the first revolution of the spring is being wound on the shaft.This is lparticularly true after the tool has been used suiciently towear down the pin so that it is slightly rounded at its corners. Thismeans that the life of such tools is very limited. In summary, the toolwith a long hook is impractical to use due to the danger of springinjury, and a tool With a short hook is unsatisfactory due to the excesstime it requires to use and also due to the frequent replacement becauseof wear.

In a main spring Winder of the present invention, a spring winding shaftor rod is slidably and rotatably mounted with respect to a at disc. Acam protrudes from the rod and a pin extends from the disc ininterfering or mating relationship With the cam. The disc is rotatablyand slidably mounted in a cylinder Which is provided with a wall port.The main spring to be pre- Wound is inserted through the wall port toposition the inner end thereof between the cam and pin and the rod isrotated to force the spring against the pin. The pin, spring end, camand rod will lrotate with respect to the cylinder wall port and thespring will be Wound around the rod until it is entirely within thecylinder. The rod and cam are then removed and the cylinder and springinserted into a Watch barrel. The disc is held down against the springas the cylinder is removed from the barrel, thus installing the springwithin the barrel.

A primary object of this invention is, therefore, to provide a means forpre-Winding a watch spring and inserting it within the main springbarrel of a Watch Without injury to the spring.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a means forpre-Winding a Watch spring quickly and easily.

A further object of this invention is to provide a means for pre-windingthe main springs of Watches and inserting them in the Watch wherein suchmeans will not Wear out easily.

An object of the invention is to provide a tool which can be used topre-Wind Watch springs in either clock- Wise or counter-clockwisedirection with equal facility.

Another object of this invention is to provide a means Patented August2, 1966 for quickly and easily winding springs around a removable core.

In the drawings,

FIG. l is a longitudinal sectional View of a main spring Winder madeaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the Winder of FIG. l;

FIG. 3 is an exploded view showing in perspective a Well of the Winderinto which a main spring is to be Wound and showing also in perspectivea cap member adapted to be associated with said Well during the Windingprocess;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 4-4 in FIG. 2;and

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of a portion of the Winder ofthe invention showing its association With a fully wound main spring anda main spring barrel into which it is to be inserted.

Referring to the drawings the main spring Winder 9 includes acylindrical main body 10 and an integral cylindrical collar 17 ofslightly greater diameter than the body. The body 10 is provided With acylindrical axial bore 20 in a central portion thereof and enlargedcylindrical axial bores 18 and 19 adjacent the bore 20 at opposite end`portions thereof. Bore 18 opens to the collar '17 at a first end of thebody 10, and bore 19 extends to a second end of body 10.

A plunger `rod 21 extends slidably through bore 20 and through enlargedbores 18 and 19. A first plunger piston 27 is mounted upon the righthand of rod 21 as seen in FIG. l and slides Within bore 19. Piston 27extends outward of bore 19 and, as shown, is integral With an enlargedplunger head 23. A compression coil spring 22 is located in the bore 19with its end abutting the left end Wall of the bore 19 as seen in FIG. land the end Wall of the piston 27, respectively.

A second plunger piston 28 is integral With the left end of rod 21 asseen in FIG. l and slides within bore 1S. A pusher head or disc 16 isintegral with the left end of the piston 28 and slides within collar 17.It is provided with an axial hole 29 and has a face 40.

A cap 11 has a cap rod 12 and a knurled Winding handle 14 in axialalignment With each other and extending outward from opposite sidesthereof. A rounded cam 13 protrudes laterally from the lrod 12. Rod 12is of dimension to be slidable into and out of hole 29. A pin 15protrudes from the face 40 of Ipusher head 16 to be in interfering ormating relationship to cam 13 when rod 12 is in hole Z9.

Operation In operation, the cap 11 is turned by hand with respect to themain body 10 through the instrumentality of handle 14 and an outerknurled portion 26 of body 10. The pin 15, as shown, is an extension ofplunger piston 28 with approximately 2% of the extending portion cutaway. A main spring entrance port 24 is provided in the cylindrical sideWall of collar 17, and it is through this port that the spring passeswhile being wound.

The normal relationship of the parts just prior to assembly of thedevice and introduction of a spring to be Wound is shown in FIG. l. Withthe parts in this position, spring 22 is urging the rst plunger piston27 in direction away from the collar 17 so that the pusher head 16 isseated in contact With the interior end of the collar 17. The outwardlyfacing surface 40 of the pusher head or disc 16 is inside of and spacedfrom the outer end edge of the collar 17 sufficiently to permitinsertion of a main spring 25 inside of the collar 17 outward from thepusher head 16.

In order to wind the main spring inside of the collar 17, the inner endof the main spring 25 is inserted through port 24 to position againstthe inner face of the pin 15. Rod 12 is fitted into hole 29 thusbringing the cap 11 down into covering relationship to the outer endedge of the collar 17, as best seen in FIG. 2. Handle 14 andconsequently cap 11, rod 12 and cam 13 are turned with respect to themain body 10 of the spring Winder in the direction in which the mainspring 25 is to be wound until cam 13 presses the watch spring 25against pin 15. As further torque is applied to the handle 14, the watchspring 25 is rmly held between cam 13 and pin 15 and the entire assemblyincluding cap 11, rod 12, cam 13, pusher head 16, and plunger piston 28together with the end of watch spring 25, turn with respect to thecollar 17 and its port 25 within the main body 10. The main spring Z is,therefore, drawn in through the port 24 and wound around the pin 19 androd and cam assembly in the manner as shown in FIG. 4.

Once the entire spring is wound within collar 17, the inner end of thespring is released by turning cap 11 slightly in a reverse direction.Rod 12 and cam 13 are then loose and may be easily withdrawn. The mainspring can then be removed by moving the plunger head 23 in directiontoward the collar 17 against the action of coil spring 22 thus forcingthe pusher head 16 in direction toward the outer end of the collar 17.The main spring 25 will be forced out of collar 17 ahead of the pusherhead 16.

In order to insert the main spring 25 into a main spring barrel 35, a'sseen in FIG. 5, the outer diameter of the collar 17 is slightly smallerthan the inner diameter of the main spring barrel 35. The collar 17 isinserted inside of the main spring barrel 35, as best seen in FIG. 5,and the main body and the plunger head 23 are moved toward each other tocause the pusher head 16 to maintain the main spring 25 in seatedrelation inside of the main spring barrel while the collar 17 is removedtherefrom. When this happens, the entire main spring 25 is convenientlycoiled within the main spring barrel 35 and may be attached to the watchmechanism in the usual manner for subsequent operation.

It is tobe noted that, in the embodiment of the invention as shown, theplunger head 23 is fastened onto the plunger rod 21 through theinstrumentality of a snap ring 32 which is seated in a groove 31provided in the plunger rod.

In the operation of this tool, the pusher head must resist turningmovement with respect to the movement of the cap 11, rod 12 and cam 13sufficiently so that the watch spring will be held between said cam 13and the pin 15. Resistance to turning moment of this pusher head withrespect to the main body 10 is furnished by the friction generated dueto the action of the coil spring 22. If this friction is not sufficient,the plunger head 23 may be held by hand as the main body is held byhand.

It is to vbe noted that rotation of the handle 14 in either clockwise orcounter-clockwise direction with respect to the main body 10 will beeffective to fasten and hold the spring 25 between the cam 13 and thepin 15. Thus one tool suffices to wind watch springs in either left orright hand spirals. This makes possession of duplicate left and righthand tools unnecessary.

What is claimed is:

1. A tool for winding elongated resilient objects cornprising arotatable disc provided with a relatively small axial bore, a protrudingpin integral with said disc in adjacent relationship to said bore, a rodremovably and rotatably mounted in said disc bore, and a cam on said rodpositioned for mating with said pin as said rod is rotated with respectto said disc when said rod is mounted in said disc bore, said pin andcam further defining means for releasably anchoring an end of theobject.

2. The combination as specified in claim 1, a hollow cylinder insurrounding relationship to said disc and mounted for slidable androtatable movement relative thereto, said cylinder having a wall portthrough which the resilient object may be drawn.

3. The combination as specified in claim 2, a piston integral with saiddisc in longitudinal alignment with said axial bore and extendingoutwardly therefrom at a side of said disc opposite said pin, resilientmeans normally positioning said cylinder and said disc with respect toeach other to have said pin and said wall port in alignment with eachother, said piston and disc being slidable longitudinally of saidcylinder to position said disc outside of said cylinder.

4. The combination as specified in claim 2, land means for providing aresistance to relative rotational movement between said disc and saidcylinder.

5. The combination as specified in claim 3, a cap integral with said rodand .situated to be in closing relationship to an outer end of saidcylinder when said rod is mounted in said disc to position said cam inalignment with said wall port.

6. The combination as specified in claim 5 and a handle integral withsaid cap `and extending outwardly therefrom in longitudinal alignmentwith said rod on an opposite `side of said cap from said rod.

7. The combination as specified in claim 6, wherein said resilient meansfurther defines means for providing a resistance to relative rotationalmovement between said disc and said cylinder.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 12/1888 Robbins81--7.5 9/1955 Rapp 81-7.5

1. A TOOL FOR WINDING ELONGATED RESILIENT OBJECTS COMPRISING A ROTATABLEDISC PROVIDED WITH A RELATIVELY SMALL AXIAL BORE, A PROTRUDING PININTEGRAL WITH SAID DISC IN ADJACENT RELATIONSHIP TO SAID BORE, A RODREMOVABLY AND ROTATABLY MOUNTED IN SAID DISC BORE, AND A CAM ON SAID RODPOSITIONED FOR MATING WITH SAID PIN AS SAID ROD IS ROTATED WITH RESPECTTO SAID DISC WHEN SAID ROD IS MOUNTED IN SAID DISC BORE, SAID PIN ANDCAM FURTHER DEFINING MEANS FOR RELEASABLY ANCHORING AN END OF THEOBJECT.